Kiwiblog

The HoS reports:

According to a global survey on market research website onepoll.com, New Zealand women are the most sexually experienced in the world, with an average of 20.4 sexual partners in a lifetime, more than any other nationality.

Comedian Michele A’Court thinks the findings prove New Zealand women are more honest than those in other countries.

In the US, for example, some young women proudly proclaim their virginity, despite engaging in non-penetrative sex acts, she says. “Without making myself sound like a slapper, my initial reaction is that 20.4 doesn’t sound like a huge amount over a lifetime.”

20 is quite a bit more than Cactus Kate’s number and quite a bit less than Busted Blonde’s!

Society has changed massively in the last 30 years. Women used to not go to university, work for a few years, marry their first or second boyfriend in their early 20s and start popping out kids.

Now far more women than men go to university, and are career focused. I’d say the same proportion still want kids, but not until the early to mid 30s – and generally one or two only.

And this reflects in relationships also. As the baby age has got older, the marrying age has changed from 20ish to 30ish. And in that extra ten years of singledom, a couple of different bonks a year isn’t a huge deal.

Sexologist Dr Michelle Mars puts the result down to the failings of Kiwi blokes.

“New Zealand men aren’t very good at picking up women unless they’re really drunk. So what tends to happen is in New Zealand, women are just as likely to ask men to have sex as men are to ask women.

Heh, Australian women are even more, umm, assertive.

“While a lot of people would read that statistic quite negatively, I think it’s quite a positive. It’s more of a gender balance in people getting the kind of sex they want.”

Former gossip columnist Bridget Saunders, who is writing a book on bad sex, believes New Zealand women are “incredibly sexually active” and is worried by the trend.

“A lot of it is to do with the new ‘ladette’ culture,” she says. “It’s almost like wanting to be one of the boys, or to be more like one of the boys than the boys are themselves.”

One sees the ladette culture, in more than just the bedroom. Go to a rugby match – once they were 90% male spectators, and now there are huge numbers of female fans.

Society used to teach young men and women to have very different expectations in life. Women’s job was to get married and have kids, and men’s job is to get a good job and by the family provider. Men with multiple partners were studs and women were sluts. Men were seen as more suited to higher education, and women were not.

I think one of the best things about living in today’s world, as opposed to in the past, has been the increasing equality of women.  WWII started the cultural change, and it has been for the better – even if some people don’t like the fact that women are catching up to men in the bedroom stakes – not just the education and work stakes.

A Paulus Telfer has applied to the Electoral Commission, to register the logo below as the official logo for a 51st state party:

Yes that is 51 stars on there. Six rows, with half having nine stars and half having eight stars. The current US flag has nine rows, with five rows of six, and four rows of five.

Mr Telfer incidentally stood for Mayor of Christchurch and got 289 votes. Bob Parker won with 46,104.

Anyway I thought I would see if I could come up with ten reasons why we should become the 51st state of the United States.

1. We would now get to bully Australia
2. No more royal tours
3. Cheaper gas
4. The SAS would get the much cooler name of Delta Force
5. We would now be the possessors of the Olympic Gold Medal for Rugby Union
6. We instantly have an effective free trade agreement with the US
7. The ANZUS Treaty would then become the A’n'US treaty.
8. Just as one has African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Arab-Americans, we would be Kiwi-Americans
9. No longer would need to fund MFAT
10. Someone earning NZ$100,000 (US$70,000) would pay 19.5% federal income tax instead of the average 29.5% currently imposed.

Muslim integration in Europe has been pretty much a disaster in many countries, but in New Zealand we are doing well:

Muslim teenagers in New Zealand adapt well to life in New Zealand, a Victoria University study has found.

The study, carried out on 180 Muslim teens, by the Centre for Applied Cross-Cultural Research, measured their psychological and social well-being by examining life satisfaction, psychological conditions, school adjustment and behavioural issues, Professor Colleen Ward said.

The study, carried out as part of a 13-country survey of well-being and identity, drew on data from previous studies carried out in New Zealand, on other groups of teens, as comparison.

The findings revealed Muslim youth demonstrated more positive outcomes on all indicators than their Maori and Pakeha peers, Prof Ward said.

The combination of strong family support, religion and New Zealand’s relatively tolerant atmosphere helped the Muslim 13- to 19-year-olds keep well, she said.

Though the students identified themselves as New Zealanders and the ethnic group they were from, their strongest identification was with being a Muslim, the researchers found. …

The cultural environment of New Zealand allowed people to integrate, keeping their culture and ethnic groups, rather than assimilating them and forcing them to abandon the culture they came from, as in some other countries, she said.

I’m not sure what other countries they are talking about, but in most of Europe the problem hasn’t been assimilation, but an unwillingness to integrate at all. However in the US, they are much better with integration.

Audrey Young writes:

The United States is poised to drop its ban on military exercises with New Zealand.

The move will be a significant step in a thaw in the NZ-US relationship that has accelerated since Barack Obama became President a little over a year ago.

The Weekend Herald understands it is likely to be announced next week when Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and the Pacific, Kurt Campbell, visit New Zealand.

That is basically the end of the “hostilities” which has existed since 1985. It took 25 years, but common sense has prevailed. It has been silly to ban exercises between our military forces, yet have them fighting together in places like Afghanistan.

Presumably this means we are allies again, and not just very very very good friends

Mrs Clinton announced last year that intelligence-sharing co-operation between the two countries had also resumed.

In a further sign of the fast-track thaw, it is understood that President Obama has twice informally invited Prime Minister John Key to Washington.

The visit is likely to take place within six months.

Add on the progress on the free trade front, and you have to say very successful diplomacy from New Zealand.

The Herald reports:

TOP TEN

1. France
2. Australia
3. Switzerland
4. Germany
5. New Zealand
6. Luxembourg
7. United States
8. Belgium
9. Canada
10. Italy

Pleased NZ is No 5 but Luxembourg at 6? Sure they have high wages but it is such a boring place. Maybe it gets marks for being so small you can walk into France for a picnic.

Transparency International has effectively ranked New Zealand as the least corrupt country on Earth. That’s obviously a good thing. But to some degree they can be self fulfilling prophecies as much of the data is based on perceptions of corruption.

So to be absolutely precise NZ was perceived as having the lowest level of corruption in the public sector of the 180 countries surveyed

The top five countries are:

1. New Zealand 9.4
2. Denmark 9.3
3. Singapore 9.2
4. Sweden 9.2
5. Switzerland 9.2

The bottom five are:

1. Somalia 1.1
2. Afghanistan 1.3
3. Myanmar 1.4
4. Sudan 15
5. Iraq 1.5

Countries I have been in recently:

1. USA 7.5
2. Turkey 4.4
3. Kuwait 4.1
4. Thailand 3.4
5. Egypt 2.8

As I said above, this doesn’t mean we are corruption free. Taito Philip Field is an example of how that is not true. It is more than any corruption is not systemic.

The Herald reports on the Global Gender Gap Index. NZ is 5th from the top (ie the 5th smallest gap) which is pleasing. 2009 is the third year in the row in 5th place.

The breakdown by category is:

• Economic Participation and Opportunity 7th
• Educational Attainment 1st=
• Health & Survival72nd
• Political Empowerment 7th

I noted in 2007:

Note however this is not a measure of how well off women are generally in each country – it is a measure of how they do compared to men.

So while the US may be in 31st place, you’d probably rather be a woman there than in Lesotho which is 26th.

And:

Looking further at the raw data, one soon realises that the educational and health scores have almost no effect because all the countries are so close together. The top score in education is 100% and the median score is 98.9%. Going to health the top score is 98.0% and the median is 97.6%. …

So in reality this gender gap ranking is primarily a ranking of political empowerment.  We see this because four countries which top the political empowerment section also top the overall survey.

There is an interesting correlation between how competitive a country is, and the gender gap:

Figure 7 shows a plot of the Global Gender Gap Index 2009 scores against the Global Competitiveness Index 2009–2010 scores, while Figure 8 plots the Global Gender Gap Index 2009 scores against GDP per capita.We have produced these graphs in all previous editions of the Report; both graphs once again confirm the correlation between gender equality and the level of development of countries.The correlation is evident despite the fact that, as opposed to other gender indexes, the Global Gender Gap Index explicitly eliminates any direct impact of the absolute levels of any of the variables (e.g., life expectancy, educational attainment, labour force participation) on the Index.While correlation does not prove causality, it is consistent with the theory and mounting evidence that empowering women means a more efficient use of a nation’s human talent.

Some of Japan’s economic problems are put down to their cultural reluctance to have women fully participate in the work force.

The NZ country profile is interesting. Some stats:

• NZ is 1st in the world for female professional and technical workers 0 outnumbering males 54% to 36%
• NZ also has massively high female participation in tertiary education
• We rank 15th for female legislators and 18th for female Ministers at 34% and 32% respoectively
• We rank 8th for female as head of state, being 11 of the last 50 years. Not sure if they mean Head of Govt or Head of State. In theory we have had a female Head of State for 50 of the last 50 years

The Dom Post reports:

It’s possible to be Kiwi, Muslim and an All Black fan, says MICHAEL FOX, but it’s not always an easy road.

Young Muslims in New Zealand have impressed their elders by integrating well through adopting a laid-back Kiwi attitude, supporting the All Blacks and embracing the local culture.

And integration over isolation is the key, in my opinion. Integration does not mean assimilation where everyone is the same, in some Borg like collective. The diversity of races, cultures and religions in New Zealand is a great thing, with integration and tolerance for others being the key.

As Muslims gather in Auckland this weekend for their first national convention, they will be reflecting on why young followers have avoided problems such as violent crime associated with disenfranchised youth in other countries.

Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand president Anwar-ul Ghani called the convention a hui.

“Our community is now getting quite a reasonable size and really once in a year we need to start to have a hui like this to reflect on things and get the grassroots involved.

“We need to strengthen our Islamic belief and way of life and yet identify ourselves as Kiwi Muslims.”

Even just little things such as calling their convention a hui, is quite cool – it is reflecting that Kiwi side.

There are now almost 50,000 Muslims in New Zealand.

Dr Ghani says young Muslims are leading the way in integration. He believes they are “Kiwianised”, with as much interest in New Zealand’s popular culture as their own.

He says this is in marked contrast with European countries where youths have felt like outsiders and rebelledthrough crime, riots and terrorism.

“I won’t say that it is not an issue [in New Zealand] but it is certainly less of an issue. We’re finding that the transition is reasonably smooth.”

I think in New Zealand we are remarkably blessed that the extremism and isolationist you get in the UK, much of Europe and even Australia is very rare here.

I think part of the credit goes to the Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand themselves. While obviously I have different views on issues, they have always struck me as taking their leadership position responsibily. And the fact that they are led by an accountant with NZ Post, rather than a DVD distributing preacher, is helpful.

She said Muslims could remain strong in their faith while also identifying themselves as New Zealanders. “When people ask me where I’m from I don’t have any answer to them apart from New Zealand, although I don’t look like a typical Kiwi. I’m definitely Muslim and I’m definitely a New Zealander.”

Wellington’s Aneesa Adam, 27, who grew up in New Zealand with her Fiji Indian parents, said a clash between faith and Kiwi values occasionally posed problems. “As a teenager at times things were a little bit difficult, particularly with things like drinking. I basically had to choose who my friends were.”

Ms Adam didn’t wear a headscarf until she started university because she was self-conscious.

“As a teenager I was always too shy. As I got older it just became easier and I decided that I was ready to wear it.

“As soon as people see you wearing a scarf there’s immediately a barrier and an idea that they have about you. For younger people I think it’s harder, but as an adult it’s very easy and people are very good about it.”

She said Muslims could remain strong in their faith while also identifying themselves as New Zealanders. “When people ask me where I’m from I don’t have any answer to them apart from New Zealand, although I don’t look like a typical Kiwi. I’m definitely Muslim and I’m definitely a New Zealander.”

One of my favourite sayings is that the only thing I am intolerant of is intolerance. I’m not sure there is such a thing as a typical Kiwi, but I think diversity is a great thing.

AFP reports:

AN interracial couple in Louisiana have been denied a marriage license by an official who considers their union morally wrong, according to local media.

“I’m not a racist,” Keith Bardwell, a justice of the peace in rural Tangipahoa Parish, told the Hammond Star.

“I do ceremonies for black couples right here in my house. My main concern is for the children.”

Mr Bardwell told the paper that he believes interracial marriages do not last and that the children of such unions are not accepted by either the black or white community.

Now of course Bardwell is bonkers to think it is his job to decide whether or not a couple should be able to get married, based on his beliefs. He does the classic groupist error of applying a generalisation to everyone (and of thinking it is his decision anyway).

It did get me interested in what is the prevalance of “mixed race” marriages and whether or not their divorce rates are higher than “same race” marriages.

In NZ we have traditionally had a high rate of mixed race marriages, as all modern Maori New Zealanders have at least one European ancestor. I do wonder if we have current stats on this – presumably the census data could reveal this.

In the US, only 2.8% of black women and 6.6% of black men had a white spouse. While 41% of Asian women have a white husband and 36% of Asian men have a white wife. So a big difference in prevalence depending on the races involved.

In terms of divorce rates Wikipedia says:

Marital stability studies published on the Education Resources Information Center found that White female-Black male unions are more prone to result in a divorce than White-White marriages are, while Black female-White male marriages show similar or lower risks of divorce than White-White marriages.

So Bardwell is wrong with his generalisation also.

As I said, I would be interested to see what the prevalence of mixed race/culture marriages are in NZ, and if there are differences in the divorce rates. Anyone know of any studies already done?

Some parts of the UN are an embarrassing disgrace, such as the UN Human Rights Council. NZ was campaigning for a seat on that, and fortunately we abandoned that for Obama to allow the US to rejoin.

The UN Security Council is one of the few parts that really is worthwhile, and I think New Zealand will have a fair chance of gaining a place. We were successful the last time we stood.

An insightful column by Fran:

But with China poised to overtake the United States within a decade as the world’s largest economy, it is no surprise that the implications of China’s rapid economic rise were given considerable focus during New Zealand and Australia’s first joint Cabinet meeting in Sydney eight days ago.

Herald inquiries indicate Rudd went to considerable lengths to outline why the two Australasian countries should move closer together at a strategic level through maintaining “close foreign policy settings” during a lengthy overview he gave as co-chair of the joint Cabinet.

The issue barely rated a mention in the two prime minister’s joint press statements. But Herald inquiries indicate that Rudd strongly positioned the impact of China’s rise on Australasia during a lengthy strategic overview.

Several Cabinet Ministers from both sides privately credit the “risks based” analysis – above all other factors – as paramount in the Rudd Government’s decision to focus on New Zealand’s strategic utility to Australia, by moving to finalise single economic market negotiations by 2015. And to increase military co-operation to protect (if needed) supply lines between Australasia and the region during possible fractious times ahead.

This would explain why Australia has gone from luke warm to highly receptive on the move to a single economic market.

For most of our existence our location has been a barrier economically. In the next century, we may find being so close to Asia is a life saver. The US economy, and to a lesser degree the EU, could struggle to match Asian economic power in a few years.

Under this scenario, Australia – as a country with “middle power” pretensions – will increase its regional impact by drawing New Zealand further within its own strategic sphere of influence.

This is where NZ needs to be a bit careful. While I am fully supportive of closer economic ties with Australia, we must not lose our identity. NZ is generally held in higher esteem than Australia with most Asian countries – partly because we are non-threatening, but also because we have never been seen as the US Deputy Sheriff.

Rudd – who thinks deeply about strategic issues – believes that unlike previous downturns, Australia and New Zealand cannot rely on American consumers to quickly refuel global economic growth through another debt-fuelled spending binge. Both New Zealand and Australia thus needed to focus on how to sustain their respective economies.

Both prime ministers share the belief that it is in the countries’ interests to strongly brand Australasia as an investment destination focused on quality products and lifestyles, and, are concerned at the upcoming “war for talent” implied by changing demographics.

Key, in particular, sees a future where both nations will have to pay “near global price” to attract and retain highly-skilled people such as doctors, lawyers and engineers.

By drawing closer together the two “Europeans in Asia” will be able to more strongly position themselves as the Asian century develops.

This makes us closing the gap with Australia even more important. You want to keep doctors, lawyers and engineers? Well maybe then allowing mining on 0.0001% of the conservation estate is not the end of the world.

I’m a fan of there being a common border with Australia, so one can travel between the two countries as if it was a domestic flight. It is great, in Europe, being able to cross country borders with no passport checks etc.

Ironically I’m just old enough to remember being able to travel to Australia without a passport – the requirement to have one only came about in the early 80s I think.

Anyway good t0 see Rudd and Key wanting to make a decision this year on a common border – rather than wait until 2015.

The Herald on Sunday reports on an ASB report on the top places for families to live. They are:

1. Wellington
2. Queenstown Lakes
3. Selwyn
4. North Shore
5. Ashburton
6=. Auckland
6=. Waimakariri
8. Porirua
9. Christchurch
10. Rodney

I’m very amused that Ashburton is above Auckland and Porirua above Christchurch

The New Year Honours 2009 List was approved by the previous Government, as is traditional.

A rare appointment has been made to the top run of the NZ Order of Merit – Principal Companion. This is equal to the old Grand Cross Knight, and it goes to Professor Ngatata Love. Few would disagree – he has been the voice of Maori in Wellington for many decades.

There are four appointments to the Order as Distinguished Companions, equivalent to the old Knights and Dames. They are:

1. Dr Claudia Orange
2. Professor David Skegg
3. Murray Wells
4. Margaret Wilson

Mr Wells is possibly not as well known as the other three. Some may not like Wilson’s appointment, but it used to be traditional for the Speaker to be knighted, and she has been given the equivalent.

Some of the CNZMs are:

• Brian Corban
• Steve Maharey
• Mark Prebble
• John Werry
• Mike Rann (Premier of South Australia)

Congratulations to all those granted honours.

The Dom Post reports:

Primary school children’s science achievement has plummeted to its worst level in 14 years, sparking urgent action by the Education Ministry.

An international study shows New Zealand year 5 pupils are doing worse in maths and science than children in more than half the other 36 countries surveyed. …

Kiwi children’s maths and science results were significantly worse than other surveyed English-speaking countries, including England, Australia and the United States – though we fared marginally better than Scotland.

They also did worse than Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Latvia, Germany, Italy, Russia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Hungary and Kazakhstan.

So Kiwi kids are doing worse in maths and science than kids in Kazakhstan, despite their GDP per capita being only US$6,748 compared to US$30,390 for NZ.

And this is year five students. Just one more reason why we need national testing to detect at an early stage those kids who are not handling basic literacy and numeracy.

Lloyd Morrison has proposed a goal for New Zealand – to be in the top ten countries in the world by 2025 for GDP per capita. He writes:

New Zealand lacks a common purpose. No one knows exactly what we want. We hanker for a return to the times when we were one of the wealthiest countries in the world. We want everyone to be better off, knowing that individual wealth does not result in freedom from crime and the social fallout of excessive disparity. However, there is no clearly articulated goal we are pursuing and no solid plan of how we can get there.

As a result, there is no definition or accountability for policies or policy-makers. Policies are often clothed with loose positive objectives and ultimately ineffective aims. There is no co-ordinated accountability for these policies (or politicians) in terms of their ability to contribute towards a common measurable outcome. Consequently, we continue our steady decline. As the attached analysis shows, current forecasts have our GDP per capita slipping below Kazakhstan and Botswana by 2025.

I’ve been discussing this with colleagues and friends, and we believe that NZ needs to embrace a common objective that will provide the means to deliver what we are seeking as a nation.

Whatever the objective chosen, it needs to be simple, clear, measureable, understandable, aspirational and, most importantly, catalytic in terms of driving positive change that makes the outcome achievable.

We’d like to stimulate a broader discussion over what that goal should be for NZ. To kick-off the debate, here’s our starter for ten: NZ should aim to be back in the top 10 countries in the world based on GDP per capita by 2025. Not just the OECD, the world. Unachievable? No way. Ireland, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan all achieved the required level of growth over the last twenty years. It will take real collective commitment and more creative thinking about our economy – but that’s exactly what an ambitious goal will generate.

I’m hoping you’ll participate in a broader discussion about an aspirational, measurable goal for New Zealand. Please read the attached document. Pass it on to your friends. Participate in the debate by emailing measurablegoal@hrlmorrison.com or contributing to the forum on www.blog.nzx.com. If you agree with what we’re proposing, show your support. If you don’t, please share your ideas for a national goal. Together, let’s take the first step in defining and delivering a better future for New Zealand.

Lloyd has out together this (a-measurable-goal-for-nz-short-2) presentation that is worth reading and also an FAQ – a-measurable-goal-for-new-zealand-_2_.

If you don’t like Lloyd’s goal, then suggest one of your own.

Paul Walker has blogged Zimbabwe’s new annual inflation rate.

It is 10.2 quadrillion precent. That is 10.2 million billion or 10,200,000,000,000,000%.

That makes me feel better about NZ hitting 5.1%. But only slightly.

The LA Times reports on how it is a trans-Tasman battle for medals per capita with Australia 2nd and NZ 3rd. I suspect we will slip back by the end of the Olympics though.

If Michael Phelps was a nation, he’d definitely win the medals per capita count

Later today Phelps competes for his 8th gold medal. It is the 4 x 100 m medley relay. It was very close in the heats.

There is now a dedicated website for the Invade New Zealand winning advertising pitch. It brings up the winning video in full screen.

Two Australian ad agencies pitch for why Australia should invade New Zealand.

I give it to 303 Agency easily.

Hat Tip: Frog Blog

As France and Colombia celebrate the release of Ingrid Betancourt, a reader points out to me the NZ connection as detailed in Wikipedia:

After graduating, she married fellow student Fabrice Delloye in 1983, and they had two children, Mélanie (born 1985) and Lorenzo (born 1988). Through this marriage she became a French citizen. Her husband served in the French diplomatic corps, and the couple lived in multiple countries, including New Zealand and the Seychelles. During the 1980s, she briefly lived in Quito, Ecuador, where she worked as an aerobics instructor.

In the mid 1990s, Betancourt and Delloye divorced, and she married Colombian advertising executive, Juan Carlos Lecompte in 1997.

Her children Melanie and Lorenzo moved to New Zealand to live with their father due to death threats stemming from her political activities. They were 16 and 13 when she was kidnapped in 2002.

I don’t think I have seen that NZ connection mentioned in the traditional media, which is surprising as normally any connection to New Zealand – no matter how tenuous – is seized upon.

As I have blogged previously, New Zealand is campaigning for a spot on the UN Human Rights Council – an institution rapidly becoming as discredited as its predecessor. We should be running a mile from it, rather than cosying up to the dictators and abusers who make up a significant proportion of its membership.

Fran O’Sullivan notes that we appear to be refusing to condemn Iran’s nuclear programme, so that we do not get offside with the Islamic states whose support is needed to get elected.

The unfortunate upshot is a perception that neither politician wants to speak frankly about Iran in case New Zealand’s UN campaign is jeopardised by the Organisation of the Islamic Conference which is one of the dominant forces on the rights council.

The council – which includes a number of serial rights abusers – has been criticised by the Economist for making a fetish out of one-sided Israel bashing. Its Islamic members have succeeded in passing a resolution saying free speech could be limited out of respect for religions and beliefs.

There is an unfortunate pattern emerging. If New Zealand puts its trade interests centre-stage, but only plays a strong bat on democratic infringements when they involve small basket-cases like Fiji, what do we stand for?

If National gets elected, they should drop our bid to be on the Human Rights Council, and concentrate on UN institutions which are not as discredited.

Paul Walker blogs on the benefits of economic freedom, and mentions Hong Kong and Cuba:

An interesting point of comparison is that in 1958 Cuba’s per capita GDP was $3,170 while Hong Kong had a per capita GDP of $2,924. Since then these two countries have followed very different development paths in terms of economic freedom . Today Cuba is one of the poorest countries in Latin America, very different from today’s Hong Kong.

So in 1958 Cuba had a higher GDP per capita than Hong Kong. And today?

Hong Kong is US$41,944 (PPP) compared to around US$4,500 for Cuba.

Cuba has a state which is basically 100% of GDP. In Hong Kong it is under 20%. In NZ it is 42%.

Last Sunday the Herald on Sunday ran a two-page feature from me profiling New Zealand, using the Electorate Profiles I had blogged about in March.

This wasn’t a political feature, but demographic. We analysed around half a dozen of the more interesting electorates – Auckland Central, Botany, Clutha-Southland, Tauranga, Epsom, Mangere and Northland, to see what was distinctive in each area.

Ironically I have not seen the final article myself as I missed getting a paper that day, but have had some very nice feedback on it.

One of the things I did in researching it also, was draw up a list of “most” and leasts” for various indicators. For those interested, here it is:

• Most under 15s – Mangere – 30%
• Most 15 – 19 year olds – Dunedin North – 14%
• Most 20 – 29 year olds – Auckland Central – 30%
• Most 30 – 49 year olds – Ohariu – 35%
• Most 50 – 64 year olds – Coromandel – 21%
• Most over 65s – Otaki – 23%
• Youngest median age – Manurewa – 28 years
• Oldest median age – Otaki – 44 years 

• Most residents born overseas – Botany – 49%
• Most born in New Zealand – Invercargill – 90%

• Most Buddhists – Botany – 4.6%
• Most Catholics – Hutt South – 18%
• Most Christians – Mangere – 71%
• Most Hindus – Mt Roskill – 12%
• Most Muslims – Mt Roskill – 7%
• Least Catholics – Nelson – 10%
• Most Ratana – Northland – 5.4%
• Most Brethren – Palmerston North – 1.3%
• Most Jews – Tamaki – 1.4% 

• Most Married – Selwyn – 56%
• Most one-person households – Christchurch Central – 32%
• Most mortgaged – Helensville – 43%
• Most mortgage free homes – Ilam – 37%
• Most Home Owners – Selwyn – 78%
• Most renting – Wellington Central – 44%

• Most Europeans – Rodney – 83%
• Most Maori – East Coast – 46%
• Most Pacific Islanders – Mangere – 59%
• Most Asians – Mt Roskill – 40% 

• Most family incomes over $100,000 – Epsom – 46%
• Lowest median family income – Northland – $43,500

• Most home phones – Ilam 96%
• Most cellphones – Ohariu – 82%
• Most Internet access – Ohariu – 76% 

• Most unqualified – Invercargill – 32%
• Most educated – Wellington Central – 41% degree holding

• Most unemployed – Manukau East – 5.6%
• Most Labourers – Rangitata – 20%
• Most miners – West Coast-Tasman – 2.1%
• Most agricultural workers – Taranaki-King Country – 24% 

• Smallest – Epsom – 23 sq kms
• Largest – Clutha/Southland – 38,000 sq kms

 Took a long time going through all 63 electorate profiles, but was an interesting job.

The Press reports on the figures put out by National showing the growing gap in after tax income between Australia and New Zealand.

In 1999 the average after tax income was $32,704 in Australia and $27,128 in New Zealand. That is a gap of $5,576 and has average NZ after tax income at 83% of Australia’s.

In 2007 Australia is $46,000 and NZ $34,000. That is a gap twice as large at $12,000 and means average NZ income is now only 74% of Australia.